CSI co-operated with UNESCO’s International Hydrological Programme (IHP) in
a pilot project on ‘Freshwater Security in Small Pacific Islands’.
It aims were to draw on, and combine, expertise in social and natural sciences to
develop an integrated approach to sustainable development in small islands.
The focus was on the local community’s knowledge and perceptions of conservation
and the wise use of freshwater and coastal resources. In co-operation with IHP,
five Australian consultants have contributed to groundwater studies in Kiribati
and Tonga. Training for ten specialists in six Pacific island countries was
provided, two literature surveys were completed, thirteen consultant visits
undertaken to prepare and conduct studies, and a further eight consultant visits
for planning and review with the UNESCO-Apia office and the South
Pacific Applied Geoscience Commission (SOPAC) were conducted. A report based
on the data ‘Water Resource Conflicts in Tarawa’ was produced.
It was later published as the IHP Technical Documents in Hydrology 25 as ‘Groundwater
Recharge in low coral islands, Bonriki, South Tarawa, Kiribati’. A report entitled ‘Analyses of water
usage conflicts and development of proposals for wise practices’ was submitted.
A comprehensive water resources management project was developed as follow-up to
the UNESCO groundwater studies in Kiribati and Tonga is currently being carried
out under funding from the Australian
Centre for International Agricultural Research.

A UNESCO-Apia staff member visited Australia in May 1998 in conjunction with
the Pacific input to a regional scientific symposium. He also attended the ‘Pacific
Youth Forum on Growing Up in a World of Change’ held in May 1998 as a resource
person.

A specialist from Australia
took part in a feasibility study in September 1998 on the creation of an underwater
archaeological museum in Egypt, and in the roundtable meeting on ‘Underwater
Archaeology and Coastal Zone Management of the Qayet Bay Area’ in Alexandria
in September 1998.

An Australian was invited to the ‘World Conference
on Science’ to speak on traditional ecological knowledge in a session on ‘Science
and Other Systems of Knowledge’ held in Budapest (Hungary) in June 1999.

As
part of the ‘Second World Water Forum’, a special thematic session was held
on ‘Water and Indigenous Peoples’
in The Hague, The Netherlands in March 2000. Three speakers from Australia were
invited.

Fifty one Warlpiri artists and story-tellers
contributed to a CD-ROM published in 2000: ‘Dream Trackers Yapa Art
and Knowledge of the Australian Desert’.
It was produced in conjunction with the Warnayaka Art Centre and an
anthropologist Barbara Glowczewski, as part of the ‘Local
and Indigenous Knowledge Systems’
(LINKS) initiative to integrate indigenous knowledge into development and
conservation efforts.

An external
evaluation of the Coastal Regions and Small Islands platform was conducted
in 2001-2002 and a final report was produced in February 2002. One of the
external evaluators was from Australia.

Two specialists from Monash University, Australia visited the Cook Islands in
June/July 2002 as part of the inauguration
of the Small Islands Voice project in the islands. They met representatives of various organisations interested in the
project: the media, government, conservation and educational organisations. The
Australian specialists conducted a preliminary
survey on environment and development issues, as perceived by young people,
over a three week period in June/July 2002 in Rarotonga and Aitutaki. They were
assisted by 25 student teachers. Three survey forms were used, each for a
different age group: children,
youths and young
adults. Two reports were produced - highlights
and a full report.